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CRM giant Salesforce.com has unveiled updates to its Analytics Cloud that it says will fuel the next wave of mobile innovation. With the new updates, users will be able to import and analyze new data sources, build entirely new dashboards and share insights in just seconds from their phones.

In addition, a free "playground" version of the Analytics Cloud was released for desktop and mobile devices. With that product, users can employ Analytics Cloud using their own imported data or a variety of preloaded data sets.

Conquering Mobile

Analytics Cloud, which is powered by the Wave Platform, is the first analytics solution built to serve mobile business users, according to Salesforce. Since the launch of Analytics Cloud in November, more than half of all Analytics Cloud queries have come from mobile devices.

We reached out to Anna Rosenman, director of product marketing for Salesforce Analytics Cloud, who told us the goal with the updates is to bring the power of Analytics Cloud to mobile settings.

"Mobile has been the Achilles heel of analytics," Rosenman said. "Legacy solutions were traditionally complex and time-consuming, meaning that answers were only accessible by an analyst and through a desktop. Our new Analytics Cloud mobile innovations transform this paradigm by replacing unnecessary complexity with a simplified, intuitive experience. Now, everyone can import and explore any data, build dashboards, and embed analytics right into where they take action -- all on their phone."

Compatible With Data

One of the updates, the Wave Mobile Connector, lets a user import a raw data file, such as a CSV file, into the Analytics Cloud mobile app with a single tap. A sales manager who receives an inventory forecast spreadsheet from a supplier as an e-mail attachment will be able to import it into the Analytics Cloud mobile app, explore it as dynamic charts and graphs, or share visualizations with team members via Salesforce Chatter. A Wave Connector add-in for desktop Excel users will be available soon.

Wave Mobile Dashboard Designer, another update, lets users create analytics dashboards using any data source directly from their phones. With a few taps, a data set is transformed into a variety of interconnected charts and graphs, each faceted together so they dynamically change as users interact with them. In one application, a marketing agency executive could assemble a set of related campaign metrics including Web site traffic, pageviews, leads, social media interactions and offers, and build a single campaign review dashboard in minutes.

Finally, Wave Links: The Salesforce1 Mobile App, or any custom or partner app built on the Salesforce1 Platform, will be able to connect directly to a specific data set, chart or dashboard in the Analytics Cloud mobile app. That means users can embed links into any Salesforce record or custom object that takes them to a specific visualization in the Analytics Cloud mobile app.

The new features are expected to be generally available in March and will be included with any Analytics Cloud license at no extra cost.